I am still around, but busy busy busy. Thurston Market Garden is no more...but as most of you will know, I built a straw bale hoose but was then made redundant. On the Rock n Roll for 6 months and then decided I should buy my old local, a 5 bed hotel. Needless to say I am now busier than ever. I man...

Thanks both. I have almost calmed down and feel that the potential upheaval of moving from smile might outweigh the (now) minimal benefit. I am just so disappointed the Co-op could muck up my account opening so badly, and not care much about it.

I have banked happily with smile.co.uk, part of the Co-op for a number of years. I recently tried to open a basic business current account with the Co-op and it has been a complete debacle on their part. They lost the first application, lost part of the second application and have promised bank acco...

I get both layers pellets and dry dog food in 15kg bags from the agricultural merchants. There's two near me and the prices vary between them wildly. I think the pellets are about £7 a bag and the dog food, (which I think ag merchants buy in bulk and bag up with their own label on it), badged as 'me...

Having lived 4 years in two caravans stuck together with 120w of solar panel, we dream of having 0.6kwh a day of electric. Previously when we lived in houses goodness only knows how much we used. Not having a tv definitely helps. (not just with power consumption) Being Scottish and miserable helps ...

18kw a day :shock: There's only me in the house. No dishwasher, no TV, only an A rated wee fridge, a mac mini and an amplifier on in the evening. One of the key things for me is I will make bread or do my washing when the sun is out so I am using my own electricity. My average consumption has defin...

I don't have any experience really but will be interested to watch this thread. I seriously considered no grid tie when I built the straw hoose and keeping it 12v but I was talked around following a few threads and discussions on the Navitron forum . The thought on there was that £3k for my grid tie...

Would it be possible to keep the hens all together and just put them in with the corresponding cock for a period of time until there were enough fertile pure eggs? The eggs could then go under what ever broody hen was available or in an incubator? Keeping them separate all the time would meen loads ...

Glad things have worked out for the better in the end Bonnie! My situation was very similar except mine was not playing on an xbox but playing with other humans. :angryfire: But you got a new man and I got a straw hoose :cheers: My fingers too will smell of tomato leaves this year and like you I can...

Thanks for all the positive comments! Pete - I think with hindsight two things could have been done differently regarding the settlement. We built in a 3 inch compression gap above the windows and doors. The central spine partition wall is also load bearing and was built in two halves, upper and low...

Thanks for all the positive comments. It was good to upload the photos - there's more on my flickr account but I shut my blog down. It was used in the old Thurston Garden days when, as some of the stalwarts on here may remember, I played at market gardening, keeping pigs and hens and such. I am temp...

I thought I would do a step by step post on my load bearing straw hoose. We started in spring 2011 and completed just before Christmas of the same year. http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5109/5623744045_3f313e71b4.jpg The site is 0.5 acres and a new access road had to be put in. http://farm6.staticflick...